Local fishing captain David Nelson and Congressman John Mica were among a series of experts who spoke at a congressional subcommittee hearing on fishing this week in Washington, D.C.

A subcommittee of the House Natural Resources Committee met Tuesday to discuss the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's fisheries program and whether a lack of basic science on fishing is costing jobs.

Both Mica and Nelson, as well as others, testified that rules and regulations imposed by federal officials because of a lack of sound science are indeed having serious impacts on jobs and the fishing industry, particularly in the South Atlantic region off the Florida coast.

Nelson, a teacher, said Wednesday that he wasn't really nervous during the hearing.

"My point is the science is wrong," Nelson said. "We're proving it now even more."

He hopes his testimony and that of others will convince committee members to call for a full natural resources committee oversight hearing on red snapper science within the next six months.

Nelson entered written testimony and spoke to the committee for five minutes.

Nelson said the data being used by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council and NOAA is inaccurate and inadequate. Congressman Jeff Duncan, a Republican from South Carolina where fishermen say they also have been affected by the fishery rules, put into the record a set of 73 emails Nelson has written questioning federal officials.

Nelson and others have argued vociferously that the science NOAA used to impose the ban on catching red snapper in the South Atlantic was flawed and a subsequent stock assessment was also flawed.

NOAA officials defend the studies but agree more money for research would improve the process.

Mica said he's been asking Congress to "pay more attention to this since March 2009." That's when the management council approved the current ban.

The Winter Park Republican said a "chronic and well-documented lack of basic data and flawed science" have caused many coastal communities to suffer.

"We've put people out of business as predicted, and we've also made employment so difficult in a very tough economic time to begin with," he said. "I think that this committee needs to go back and look at the (Magnuson Stevens Act) and also the actions that have done inestimable damage to my district, the state of Florida and the nation's economy."

Committee chairman John Fleming, a Republican from Louisiana, wondered whether NOAA agrees more money is needed for science research.

Fleming said NOAA had testified in another committee meeting that it wanted to put more resources into satellites to monitor climate change.

"The way things are up here, we're out of money. We're broke," Fleming said. "With this tight budget situation, what do we do?"